What will a Jaguar Bass do for me.........?

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I respectfully disagree. His tone changed massively over the years, depending on his bass and amps. And he played at least 50% of the time with a pick in the 60s and early 70s.

 

His style and technique was entirely his own of course, but even that developed hugely.

 

But, this is going to lead us down the "tone is in the fingers" abyss and we really don't want to go down there do we? 😄

We agree then, fingers (you need them in the left hand as well) and amplification/volume. I think that’s what I said?
 

But the tone was not in a slab body

[Beedster]

Just now, Cosmo Valdemar said:

It's the maple cap neck. Aside from the slab body, that was the only difference. The pickup and circuit were standard. And as that tone was retained on Live At Leeds, where he was playing Frankenstein, logic points to the neck being responsible.

I used to own a replica built by @Rick's Fine '52. Maple cap neck from a Roger Waters sig, if I remember correctly. Steve Harris pickup. It had that definite extra snap and grit to the top end, so I'm content to believe the secret sauce was in the neck.

Well JE said he was sure it was the circuit, I’m going with him 👍

[Beedster]

… but either way, if I played that bass I would never get that tone, he could play an Encore and would probably get close 👍

[Cosmo Valdemar]

24 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Well JE said he was sure it was the circuit, I’m going with him 👍

Slabs had ordinary pickups and circuits, honestly. JE was wrong on this one.

[Beedster]

7 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Slabs had ordinary pickups and circuits, honestly. JE was wrong on this one.

I’ll see if I can dig out the interview, have to admit that if I were going to identify the active ingredient of tone in a Precision I’d have put the circuit quite low, but I suspect JE had a good feel for this stuff. When I first read the interview I remember thinking he might have found himself with an instrument with a mutant, even faulty, circuit, that just did the thing he wanted? 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

I’ll see if I can dig out the interview, have to admit that if I were going to identify the active ingredient of tone in a Precision I’d have put the circuit quite low, but I suspect JE had a good feel for this stuff. When I first read the interview I remember thinking he might have found himself with an instrument with a mutant, even faulty, circuit, that just did the thing he wanted? 

It's something I've seen him mention in a few interviews - I remember buying a copy of bassist magazine when I was 13 because he was on the cover - I didn't even own a bass yet 😄

Of course that sent me down a rabbit hole for many years trying to find out what was so special about the mythical Slab circuit 🤣

[Burns-bass]

2 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

It's something I've seen him mention in a few interviews - I remember buying a copy of bassist magazine when I was 13 because he was on the cover - I didn't even own a bass yet 😄

Of course that sent me down a rabbit hole for many years trying to find out what was so special about the mythical Slab circuit 🤣

There is no magic.

[OliverBlackman]

43 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

There is no magic.

Are you sure JE didn’t write Magic bus and they changed the lyrics? 
 

I don't care how much I pay (Too much, Magic bass)
I wanna play my bass to my baby each day (Too much, Magic bass)

[bremen]

7 minutes ago, OliverBlackman said:

Are you sure JE didn’t write Magic bus and they changed the lyrics? 
 

I don't care how much I pay (Too much, Magic bass)
I wanna play my bass to my baby each day (Too much, Magic bass)

Beedster: I waant it, I waant it, I waant it

All: Caaant havvit!!!

[Cosmo Valdemar]

55 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

There is no magic.

I know that now. The 13-year-old me was a lot more naive 😄

[bremen]

56 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

There is no magic.

You haven't heard Live at Leeds,  have you?

 

😉

[Beedster]

There is no magic in a circuit, in a body, or in a neck. There is magic in the way the musician uses them, and perhaps makes them sing more than he would a different combination. Live at Leeds is magical 👍

[3below]

As per @Beedster Live at Leeds is magical, always wished I could play like JE and have that tone, never going to happen though.  As for the magic, 

 

I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it

You can have her for just one hundred pounds

Edited Friday at 10:01 by 3below
spelling typo

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Too much!

[Beedster]

 

Interesting evolution 

 

 

[Hellzero]

That said, about magic in the circuit or ghost in the machine 😉 , the special tone of Edward van Halen comes from a defective pickup, the special tone of Peter Green comes from an error in the wiring putting the pickups of his Les Paul out of phase in the center position, the special tone of Brian May comes from the accumulation of mistakes in the building of his guitar by his father (neck wood and building not allowing a standard gauge but an ultra light one, ultra low output homemade pickups needing an external buffer and booster, an overall very poor construction of the guitar giving such a thin sound he had to do a lot of tricks), ...

 

So yes, the magic can reside in the circuitry Chris.

[BassApprentice]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

 

Interesting evolution 

 

 

 

If only there was a high output bass with a P pickup and woofer ready to go....

 

Looks cool though! 

[OliverBlackman]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

 

Interesting evolution 

 

 

 

Pretty sure I saw him play this bass with D’angelo

[Shaggy]

14 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

Interesting evolution 

 

 

 

 

Interesting indeed - he clearly felt that the neck mudbucker was something missing from the original (basically Thunderbird) pickup placement.

As a big fan of Thunderbirds, but also of humbuckers placed right up at the neck, I've been very intrigued by the Mike Lull Tom Petersson model - anyone tried one?

 

Mike Lull Unveils Tom Petersson Signature Bass – No Treble